MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maersk encouraged by the boom in global trade and container business

“For East South America, particularly Brazil, we see exports driving the growth in trade volume this year” said Julian Thomas, head of the company for Mercousr countries

The growth of China’s exports to the United States is expected to boost global trade in 2021, according to Moller-Maersk. The logistics company predicts that global container trade is expected to increase between 5% and 7% in 2021 as consumers shift their demands, prioritizing the purchase of consumer goods over services.

The boost can be expected similar for East Coast South America, particularly Brazil, where Maersk, forecasts a 5% increase in exports. Since 2010, Maersk has invested more than US$7 billion in Brazil

“Never has logistics played such an important role in society as it is now. In these difficult times, freight transport cannot stop. The current exceptional market situation is expected to continue until the end of the year as consumers affected by the pandemic are opting for buying more products than before, instead of spending time and money on services such as frequenting restaurants or traveling for tourism,” said Julian Thomas, head of Maersk East Coast South America (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay).

“For Brazil, we see exports driving the growth in trade volume this year, in particular the demand for food and basic products such as coffee, cotton, resin, paper, and wood,” he adds.

In conjunction with this scenario, Maersk is launching a new digital solutions and seeks to expand its inland operations logistics in Brazil. “In 2021, we see double-digit growth in our business in Brazil, so we have started to hire and strengthen our sales teams as we continue to deepen our inland logistics and services offering in Brazil. We are also looking for new investment opportunities,” says Thomas.